List of Types of Attraction

[Tallow]

Hello people!!

A few months ago I went on a rampage, finding and documenting every type of attraction I could in a Google Doc. I still look at it every now and again, but aside from that it's kind of just sitting there. I decided that instead of letting it collect dust, I would transfer it to a carrd.io website and share it with you guys! So without further ado, here you go: 

https://types-of-attraction.carrd.co/

**Disclaimer: This list is not at all perfect, and I would love any criticism/help/add-ons you can give me!

Edit: I have reorganized the list a little. 

Edited September 28, 2022 by Tallow

[Mark]

This is somewhat different from the way regular psychology tends to define attraction:

• Romantic
• Sexual
• Physical/Sensual
• Emotional (of which Platonic is only a subset)
• Aesthetic
• Intellectual

Most notably that both Romantic and Sexual are seen as entirely their own things rather than part of another attraction.

Edited September 28, 2022 by Mark

[illumi]

this should be pinned as a guide

[Tallow]

9 hours ago, Mark said:

This is somewhat different from the way regular psychology tends to define attraction:

• Romantic
• Sexual
• Physical/Sensual
• Emotional (or which Platonic is only a subset)
• Aesthetic
• Intellectual

Most notably that both Romantic and Sexual are seen as entirely their own things rather than part of another attraction.

Yeah, the thing I don't like about those is that it makes out platonic attraction or eriattractions to be less than romantic/sexual attraction. ..Although I will admit it is a much cleaner way of sorting attraction into boxes than mine-

[Mark]

On 9/27/2022 at 8:49 PM, Tallow said:

Yeah, the thing I don't like about those is that it makes out platonic attraction or eriattractions to be less than romantic/sexual attraction. ..Although I will admit it is a much cleaner way of sorting attraction into boxes than mine-

Just as problematic is the way in which it's not uncommon for many parts of the aro community to lionise (and romanticise) the likes of platonic attraction, squishes, Queer Platonic Relationships, Platonic Life Partnerships, etc.

Often implying that "platonic attraction" is more than sexual, physical/sensual, other emotional, aesthetic, intellectual or other non-romantic attractions.

With QPR definitions often using a notion of relationship/attraction hierarchy similar to that which underpins amantonormativity.

Aromantic people can be aplatonic, quoiplatonic, greyplatonic, demiplatonic, etc as well as alloplatonic. Unfortunately alloplatonic can often be a default assumption, even though it may only apply to a minority of aros.

Also far too common in aro spaces and material is the false dichotomy of "romantic or platonic". Which erases a large set of other possibilities. Especially in the contexts of attraction and relationships.

Edited September 29, 2022 by Mark

[Tallow]

11 hours ago, Mark said:

Just as problematic is the way in which it's not uncommon for many parts of the aro community to lionise (and romanticise) the likes of platonic attraction, squishes, Queer Platonic Relationships, Platonic Life Partnerships, etc.

Often implying that "platonic attractions" is more than sexual, physical/sensual, other emotional, aesthetic, intellectual or other non-romantic attractions.

Yeah, the hierarchy that people put on types of attraction often goes both ways. 

11 hours ago, Mark said:

Aromantic people can be aplatonic, quoiplatonic, greyplatonic, demiplatonic, etc as well as alloplatonic. Unfortunately alloplatonic can often be a default assumption, even though it may only apply to a minority of aros.

That's a great point. Now that I think about it, I have seen this quite a lot within the aro community. 

11 hours ago, Mark said:

Also far too common in aro spaces and material is the false dichotomy of "romantic or platonic". Which erases a large set of other possibilities. Especially in the contecxts of attraction and relationships.

That was actually one of the main reasons why I dedicated a large portion of my time making this list. I kept finding things about romantic or platonic, but nothing matched my experiences. Even the rare post about sensual or aesthetic attraction never fully described my feelings. This list helped with that a lot.